Hejduk

March 28, 2009, 6:43 pm

For Hejduk, Success Comes in Waves

By Paul Oberjuerge

SAN SALVADOR — The 30s are the Golden Years for a soccer professional, the time when injuries and the aches and pains of aging begin to reduce him or her as a physical force, cutting into speed and endurance and, usually, playing time. Bora Milutinovic, the globe-trotting coach, once summed up the aging process: “At 20, you run 25 meters and pass the ball 5 meters. At 30, you run 5 meters and pass the ball 25 meters.”

Then there is Frankie Hejduk.

The oldest field player in El Salvador with the United States national team for its World Cup qualifier, Hejduk, 35, not only has worked himself back into the starting lineup, he remains perhaps the best-conditioned athlete on the roster.

Hejduk claims never to have lost in the infamous “beep” test, a punishing series of short sprints set to an ever faster pace that measures both speed and endurance. His body fat “ranges from 4 to 6 percent,” he said, and he carries a whippet-lean 150 pounds on his 5-foot-8 frame. He still regularly outpaces younger teammates in training and outlasts opponents on the field.

“He’s a different kind of animal,” Freddy Adu, a 19-year-old U.S. international, said of Hejduk. “He’s probably the fittest guy on the team at age, what, 34, 35? That’s ‘Wow!’ That’s amazing.”

Hejduk credits his off-season conditioning program for his fitness and longevity. And it isn’t long sessions in the gym or on the road.

Hejduk stays fit by surfing, he says.

“I try to stick with the same plan that I’ve doing for 10 years in the off-season, which is going to the beach, going to my hometown and surfing every day,” said Hedjuk, who grew up and still lives in southern California. “I surf three times a day.

“I’ve said it before, it’s one of the tougher sports to do that I’ve ever done. You tell the average person to go out there and try to go surf for two hours; he wouldn’t last 20 minutes.

“If you think about it, you’re on a board, and the hardest part of the board is keeping your head and body up as you’re paddling against these waves that are coming back and forth and moving your body all around. So your core has to be really good. Then you’re going against the grain of the current when you’re paddling out to the waves, and not only that, you’re having to use your arms to duck under the waves and hold your breath and expand your lungs.

“If you catch a wave and take it to the shore and go back out, to go out and catch one more wave you’re probably going under a wave and coming up anywhere from 8 to 15 times against the grain. You’re constantly holding your breath and expanding your lungs. Then, when you catch the wave, obviously you have to have balance to be able to turn, and that deals with the core, and you’re working out your legs all the way to the beach as you’re riding the wave.”

Hejduk grew up surfing off the coast near his home in San Diego County, and going out in the water makes a grueling workout less onerous, he said. “That’s the great part of it. Not only is it an incredible sport, it’s probably one of the most taxing exercises out there, it’s fun. It looks fun and it is fun. Once you get it down and you’re doing it, you’re able to go out there day in and day out.”

He says he begins his surfing regimen the day after his soccer season ends and puts in three daily sessions for two months. “I’m up at 5 in the morning my first day home. I can’t wait to do it. And it’s something I need to stay fit.”

He said he hadn’t yet seen a “surf your way to fitness” book. “But someone could do one, for sure,” he said.

Hejduk has spent most of his soccer career playing on the wings or on defense and rarely scores; he has 6 goals in 82 games with the national team. Which is fine, he said, because scoring isn’t quite as exhilirating as surfing. (Unless it’s in the M.L.S. championship game.)

“To me, it’s the closest thing that I can get to to surfing, to tell you the truth,” he said. “When I’m dropping in on one of those huge waves, going down and you’re flying down the wave at 100 miles per hour and you’re looking up and there’s a big, just, crest coming at you, and everybody is cheering for you down the side and you’re ’uhhhhh!’ going crazy, and you make the wave and make it to the bottom and you turn and the wave goes over you. You get that same type of feeling when you score. Almost as good as surfing. Almost as good, if you score a goal.”

He has one scoring test he would like to apply to his surfing scale: scoring in the World Cup. “I haven’t done that,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to compare those two.”

Hejduk has become something of a hard man for U.S. soccer, a seemingly fearless player employing a physical style.

“I try to tackle hard and play hard, and I think it’s a staple of mine,” he said. “I’m not going to be the guy doing magical tricks with the ball and amazing people with my skill. I realized early what my talents were and what I was good at, and I think playing hard is one of them. And you need those guys because not everyone is like that, either. Everyone has their strengh and weaknesses. There’s a few guys who have incredible skill but tackling is not their forte. So you need to find a balance on a team, and that’s what makes a team, finding the right mixture of skill, tenacity and players willing to do the hard work.”

Hejduk’s toughness was tested in a game against Mexico in February, when he sustained a bone bruise on his knee in a violent collision.

“That’s the closest I’ve come to thinking I would have to come out of a game,” he said. “Normally, I’m not the guy who goes ever and gets the magical spray. I think that was the first time I’ve had to get that, ever. What worked more, was my roommate at the time, Brad Guzan. I was kind of rubbing my knee and I just heard him go: ‘C’mon, Duke, suck it up! Suck it up!’ And I just looked at him and I was like: ‘You know what, this guy is right. Yeah. I have to suck it up.’ And that more than anything made me keep going and the adrenaline was pumping and I forgot about it for the rest of the game. Then the next day I had a hematoma the size of a golf ball and it was throbbing.”

Hejduk, who the M.L.S. title with Columbus last season, says he has no plans to give up the game.

“This is what I love doing,” he said. “I love being out there in the heat of the moment at whatever game it is, no matter how big or how small. I’m hoping technology keeps on advancing like it is because it seems like athletes are playing more and more into their 40s. Hopefully, we can get to the point where I we can go forever. I would do this forever if I could.”